1st Place: Winner of the MacBook Pro

We had an incredibly varied bunch of entries in this contest round, spanning both the sublime and the ridiculous ends of the spectrum – which is very much what we were hoping for! It is perhaps surprising then, that the judges were fairly unanimous in singling out the top three entries here as their favourites. Having said that, this is a pretty impressive shortlist, so please take time to view all the entries here!

i cant believe such terrible choices again. i cant believe that won?? its like a 3 year old style, nothing new or fresh at all, and lets be honest, you could put any stock image in the world there to replace the pic of the woman. its sucks. whats 1 and 2 got to do with a makeover? 13 by tike is the best piece. awful judging as usual, gotta wonder if these contests are fixed.

after all i read about this competition it seemed to me that you realy take care of your rules: "The judges' selections will be based on quality, creativity and design excellence." Thats what i realy miss in some of the honorable mentions - list.

Tobi

CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!!

By hulk208 on Thursday, 20 November 2008 5:12 PM

Í don't understand how the judges of this contest always give the prize to people who made a different concept or maybe don't understand the brief of the round. What kind of extreme makeover are the top 3 entries? copy characters from a movie a put faces on it, is creative? The winner: put a bunch of draw around the same picture with nothing but some erased areas is original? i'm agree with "what the ..." comment: you could put any stock image in the world there to replace the pic of the woman; I can't believe this contest! the concept you put as a brief always is the opposite to the winner entry...it's a shame because a lot of people put very nice works here. If there are "some kind of judges" behind this contest, you have to reconsider those names, because the prizes are gone to wrong hands. There's a lot of good works around here, don't waste their time...don't play with the people.

Odd that I get an email saying they want me to do a write up over my design and to see that it wasn't even listed...what kind of site is this? Kinda rubs salt in a wound. Congrats but in the end was this all worth the effort being asked how I made mine. Good Luck with this contest and site...I'm done!

to we_design

By neo48 on Thursday, 20 November 2008 5:23 PM

sorry, bro but your entry don't have quality, creativity and design excellence, so what's the problem

Fixed

By GraphicNut on Thursday, 20 November 2008 5:27 PM

Some of the entries should not be in the top 36. I like how crestock messed up and added alearrojo twice.

I also got an email asking me to do a blog piece on how I made my creations. I have to say Bombardierbob your entry; http://www.crestock.com/blog/photoshop/contest2008/entry.aspx?id=8230 that should have been in the top 15 or mentioned. Hell even mine should have been mentioned on here. I am sick and tired of this as it seems that nothing has changed for the second year in a row. Judges that don't follow the theme or rules contestants who violated copyright laws like the one using the Incredibles. If you want people to return then you need to stop this madness now! I will not return here till that happens and will warn others and have them spread the word as well. Now I am done here as well, good luck & good bye...

By neo48 on Thursday, 20 November 2008 5:36 PM

jeje I saw this page twice and I miss that error. Great GraphicNut!, i'm agree with you..is this more fixed or what? maybe the winner was other work and for a mistake appear this image..

Congratulations to the winner! Enjoy the prize. Such bitterness on here amongst all the designers. I don't think for one second think that this contest is easy to judge...in anyway. With all the entries and styles. Different people have different tastes. CONGRATS RANDY!!!

Obviously people are always going to complain about the results, but the fact that the wining entry didnt follow the set guidelines is not a complaint, but more an obvious fact. Can anyone see the sources in it? I dont doubt he used them, but surely they should be visible to the viewer as part of the judgment.
Also some of the results in the top 30 were poorly executed and should never have made it, especially with so many talented entries that were ignored.....the judging was unfair.
That last sentence was a complaint.

We'd like to apologise for the entry that appars both in the top 15 and under honorable mentions. The honorable mentions list is in no particular order and is usually put together before the final scores are known. We forgot to remove this image from the honorable mentions after the judges' scores revealed it to be among the top 15. All other entries are in the correct order.

Judging this contest is no easy task, some think the theme should be interpreted quite literally, others take a more oblique approach. There's also a balance to strike between originality and strength of concept weighted against technical skill.

There's hardly a single entry in this round that doesn't deserve a second look, so at some point choices must be made if we're not to end up with a repeat of the entries listings in their entirety.

Apologies to everyone who's been disappointed by the results, congratulations to the winners.

i agree on all the points you mentioned.
but please you said this is a "Photoshopping Contest"... so y don't you judges wanna recognize the photoshopping effort instead of just picking that pleases you at the first glance.. ("..doesn't deserve a second look"). You should think about looking twice, as people have trusted you guys and put in lots and lots of time and effort giving away their works.

The second position entry by LoopAll? c'mon its just change of a place, and so are other "honourable mentions"... LoopAll mentioned in his comments

"By LoopAll on Sunday, 9 November 2008 6:59 PM
Sorry for my english... But I don't know what is "makeover". :-[

He doesnt know what is makeover, and did something very random, and he wins?? and is that a MAKEOVER?????

You guys should check www.worth1000.com, they don't promise prizes, but they do honour and value Photoshopping skills.

they have 'makeover' works in their galleries, you might wanna check them to actually know what makover means.

I didnt participate in this round so these comments are not becoz am jelous or something. am speaking for everybody here.

By hulk208 on Thursday, 20 November 2008 8:33 PM

Maybe the crestock team need to reconsider the name of this contest; could be Crestock Creative Contest; please remove photoshop from the main title because you are given a bad name to this magnificent software

Makeover: An overall treatment to improve the appearance or change the image.

The theme for this contest was essentially to do anything you want, using at least one of the supplied images. ("this is your chance to really go over the top and entertain us"). It was impossible to miss the theme for this round.

By davidbanner208 on Thursday, 20 November 2008 9:03 PM

I have to apologize for the above comment, my other half was out of line.

It was a great contest, lots of fun and challenging. Trying to create something that ranks among some of the top work here is my main motivation.

I'm bummed that it is over, but would really like it to continue with such great prizes.

Sorry to have to point this out but several designs violates both Copyright
and Trademark Laws as well as rules on here. I like to hear what Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks and Warner Brothers will have to say after their legal team checks this out. I have already contacted them and they are looking into this with their legal staff.

This was to be a make over contest but turns out that this is a cut and paste contest. Also the term Photoshop should be dropped as it implies this is a Photoshop only contest. Also like to point out how does Crestock know that no copyrighted images were used in the creation of the winning design or stock photos from other sites?

By Kuzco on Thursday, 20 November 2008 9:09 PM

WHAT? Since when it is so bad to get creative while using Photoshop at the same time. This is insane... Photoshop's mission is to serve creativity! A dead collage without creativity is just a waste of time.

Player Haters

By JohnMcCain08 on Thursday, 20 November 2008 9:12 PM

Damn, there are some serious "Player Hater's" on here, like SilverLeafArtist73

This contest was meant to be fun and challenging. I agree with davidbanner208. Where else you some of you crap ass "artists" be allowed to have a chance of winning such cool prizes and not have to pay an entry fee?

I am very pleased to see that the entry I thought should win first place did win first place. It took talent par excellence to create such a unique design. The cumulative result of multiple makeovers being the loss of identity is still a makeover! One could argue that many of the entries were more or less a tweaking (adding clothes, props, applying fur, etc.) than a true makeover anyway. I don't think that a theme need necessarily be taken literally - some variance within the theme seems logical, especially in regards to a competition that is all about creativity. My entry did not even make honorable mention, but I'm not bitter. I had a ball composing my art and seeing it on the website. Next year I'll do better. I'm grateful to Crestock for giving us an opportunity to have fun and possibly win a prize. If one's only objective is to win the prize, then they maybe they should refrain from entering - after all, you are competing with hundreds - and only one can win.

I missed out on this years contest but glad I did. Congrats to the winners.

I noticed the issue over copyrights and Silver is correct. As for the Sarah Palin image use, they are not copyrighted as the image is under public domain when it's the official picture that was used. Take a look at BombardierBobs post. Silver must be married cause read her posting with her work.

I look at how this is put together and it looks like this page was a last second rush job cause the double post and no one checking the entries out shows it. Next year I might enter depending on how the last contest goes. 2 weeks to decide a winner on this one and it looks sloppy hope next week after the holiday they will get their act together and do a better job on the listings of who won and the mentions.

I have to say that Bob's should have made a mention slot as well as a couple others. Also cut with the player haters, as we all know there was plenty of vote rigging and cheating last year and questionable issues this year so far that I can see. Only kids can think it's cool to rip on the Incredibles, Shrek, or Mad and think Sarah Palin's public domain photo should also not be allowed.

If you want to know what I do, I am a photographer and journalist for a local newspaper in NJ. Fair use and copyrights are things I should know well more then any kid on here.

hoped 4 a little more recognition than a honourable mention, maybe i strayed a little from the brief but was more original than most. i also think that the piece by 'hackofalltrades' and 'tike' wouldve been more worthy winners, good work. i think the judges show poor taste in picking choices like 'max the movie' and several 'shrek' and 'incredibles' pieces, makes me think that the judging hasnt been taken seriously.

Maybe you should enter higher quality work to get noticed. It puts a sour taste in my mouth when I see poor entries that are clearly voted on with fake accounts. It doesn't fool anyone, so why put in the effort? Espcecially when it doesn't count for anything.

Somehow, someone signed into my name posted something about me admitting to voter fraud... i'm not sure why they would do this... but I know the public votes do not count, it says on the contest rules that there were judges that chose the winners, not the public, i am not ashamed to admit i told people to come to crestock.com and sign up for an account, and check out the contest and to vote on my entry if they liked it, god forbid i attract more traffic to the website, but to think that z144man can disrespect my work, i put just as much time and effort as you did into yours, if not more... i like the winning piece, i voted for it, but don't disrespect my work, i never disrespected yours, i appreciate the time and effort you put into it, just like everyone did, i'm not a sore loser, but my tastes are not the same as the judges... i hardly admit to having the best entry, but it was the best i could do... i apologize to you if you think my design skills are vastly inferior to yours and they don't deserve the "notice" that yours does... let's all make sure we all look at what an AMAZING designer that Z144man is...

why is that on some of the comments the user name is grayed or "greyed" out... if it was really me posting it, why don't i have the option of clicking that username... seems awfully strange, even on the round 2 contest, there are mysterious gray names... like those people don't exist anymore, or never did to begin with... funny how all the winners seems to somehow be connected, maybe the judges knew this from the beginning...

15 is stunning.

By Reventon on Friday, 21 November 2008 7:02 AM

The work is art, its captivating and a bit thought provoking.

Winner Hand

By Rekobeko on Friday, 21 November 2008 7:11 AM

Block the hand out and see if the work has the same effect. The key in the winners image is the hand painting in. The missing head bothers me. There's a sort of graphic dump on this image. Nice work for sure, great PS skills, but what does it mean? Is a collection of trendy thoughts half finished? Not sure. But ad some sofware or even illustration pen, paint brush branding and this may work! Maybe thats it.

Hello,
I'm the photographer for two of the images used - fat guy and the kid, I I just want to say the entries and the winners are bloody awesome. The model (fat guy) was blown away with most of the entries - congrats to the winner - well-deserved.

I was responding to what was posted, I didn't know someone hacked your account. That really sucks.
Also, I didn't mean for it to sound like I was attacking your work. When I said "you should enter higher quality work", I meant the general "you".

as for my entry, criticize away. I really don't mind.

Copyright

By Ultradialectics on Friday, 21 November 2008 1:29 PM

Like i said in the other rounds too...what about the copyright
issue. it says clearly in the rules no use of copyright material but it seems like everybody lacks these rules, and even the jury

ok, seriously. i hate people stealing others art, but to say that doing a piece based on characters that are copyrighted to a company like pixar is not the same as just "reproducing" the characters if you make them yourselves and change the final look of them.

this is known as fan art. and no, i havent seen all the ones that you people may be referring to, but the incredibles one looks like he actually made them original.

as to all those complaining... well, yeah, i think he did amazing. nkeo is one of my favorite artists, and he is so due to his incredible talent. to anyone who is sore, then i hope you will go and invest all the time he has in learning how to do this. then re-enter. i have seen people getting votes on pieces that were not truly merited...but due to cheating. you have to admit, technically, his blows all the others to dust. and as for the concept, well, it sure was different than the stock provided.....

I see pieces here that I think are better than mine, and others than I consider weaker. In the end it all comes down to the subjective opinion of the judges, and everyone entering the contest knew that to begin with. I personally voted for velendil and also liked jonnakonna's piece a lot.

starfantazy, you are not yet eligible enuf to critique my entry... u need to go a long way...
i see just becoz u were listed in the "honourble mentions" in the last round u r all excited and jumping around... :)

You should try entering ur works in www.worth1000.com to see where u stand.. Deviant Art is a great place i admit, but they dont critique, any body can have an account in deviant like you. you need to get a reality check dude.

@we_design

By lololololol on Monday, 24 November 2008 3:21 AM

@we_design

you didnt get mentioned because your work isnt nearly as good as what you see above. sorry.

to the sore losers and haters:
voter fraud doesnt count
if you didnt win or get mentioned its because your work wasnt good enough.

i recently won the sony vaio graphic splash contest, have written a tutorial for advanced photoshop magazine, which also featured me 4 times as well, also layers magazine, and exotique 3...just to name a few of the bigger names...as well as being an administrator/artist at evoke

lol, trust me. i am not doubting my ability to critique anything. but, i see you fail to provide a link to your work of art. which i will only take as a sure sign that you probably know why you have no room to fight back with me. so, yeah, i can put sony/microsoft on my resume for having been commissioned to make the cover of the laptop i am now typing on to you.

:) have a fun life and you won't get far in this profession if you can't concede defeat to people who are a bit more talented due to years of hard work.

By Kamal on Monday, 24 November 2008 6:05 AM

starfantazy,
that's it? that's ur story?
now i can give u big list of my achievements... but u seem to be totally preoccupied with ur little fame... and ur own world.

The real world is a bigger place with more talented designers, you just haven't seen everyone. Grow up dude!

ive came acroos your works before on deviant art, think i faved the sony laptop design, not sure, but it's v. good work.

i have to disagree tho with "you have to admit, technically, his blows all the others to dust" because , technically, it doesnt. have a look at hack of all trades, andhis .gif of how the image was put together, the manipulation skills of the alien are excellent. personally i think the idea and concept are better than the winners piece, altho maybe not as trendy to the eye. other mentionable works are #13 by tike, with excellent lighting brushing, the robotic parts of the woman are put together brilliantly from manipulations from the camera image and the shaver image. didnt see any great manipulation techniques from the winner, other than having the hsaver hidden underneath the womans clothing, and personally i think cutting off the head legs and arms shows a lack of abilty to do anythin with, so just cut them off?
i think #1 sis a really good piece of art, but like nearly all of the pieces including my own, i could be critical of it. to say it blows the others out of the water from a technical point of view is unfair on some other good work in this contest, which in my opinion didnt get the deserved recognition, by the public or the judges.

i was more referring to the ones that didn't place. i am the first to admit when i make something not as good as the persons coming in first, even without placing. the guess i should ones listed here are each unique pieces, and i am wrong to dismiss them. however this kamal guy telling me that i am not near enough "experienced" to critique his work set me off as all i was saying is that people need to stop being such sore losers in a contest like this and congratulate the winner instead of bitching about it.

seriously. that pisses me off. not giving credit where it is due. but, you are right, i shouldn't say that, even though i may think his was the best by far. that was just my opinion

Richy;
Sometimes it's better to show nothing to show everything, instead of showing everything while in fact you're showing less, or nothing.
It is a good technique nkeo used, left alone the quality he presented us. #13 has a nice concept with mixing other pictures, but has not the quality Nkeo has with his piece, that does not mean I dislike his technique, it's just a style.

starfantazy;
I like some of your work, but as Rodier says, don't answer like this to that guy.

One big congratulations to the winner! His concept makes more sense once you get to read his description (at least for me it does). For the non-winners (including yours truly:) freedom, imagination and creativity is still ours to keep (& its not a consolation), so thank God for that!

"Sometimes it's better to show nothing to show everything, instead of showing everything while in fact you're showing less, or nothing.
It is a good technique nkeo used, left alone the quality he presented us."

sorry but i didn't understand that sentence at all.
my point above was that within graphic design, particularly in contests like this, you have various aspects, style, concept/idea, and technical ability. Nkeos piece is was always going to be the most popular with the mainstream, i see this style every single time i buy a copy of any of the brands of computer arts magazines. I'm not saying i dislike the piece, because i like it. my point was that was unfair for starfantazy to say that 'technically' it was superior to every other piece in this contest, when it wasn't. As far as style and concpet go, you could have the opinion that was surperior to others, but technically it wasnt.

"and personally i think cutting off the head legs and arms shows a lack of abilty to do anythin with, so just cut them off? "

"Sometimes it's better to show nothing to show everything, instead of showing everything while in fact you're showing less, or nothing."

Show nothing, to communicate everything. (Better communication in the design.)
Show everything, to communicate nothing. (Less good communication in the design.)

I know it's quite hard to understand, lol, but many designers want us to show everything, while sometimes showing nothing, is enough to communicate everything. That's actuactly the case (in my opinion) with nkeo's piece. He shows us basicly nothing much, but he tells us everything by showing not much.

like: It means nothing.... it means everything. John Lennon's poster 'The war is over, if you want it' he shows us litterly nothing, but he communicates us everything.

I like the pic but still think it was off theme.
Sorry but i think that if the pic cannot express its intentions (from the theme) without having to give a long explanation, then its not serving its purpose like it should be.
As far as i am concerned, the explanation he gave could apply to just about any pic......
Would it have won without the description?
I doubt it.